1-(4-chlorophenyl)-2-cyclopropyl-1-propanone (I) is a key intermediate used in the production of the of fungicide cyproconazole.

The several known methods for preparation of the above compound are described in the prior literature, such as, U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,696, CN101786948A, RU2350579, CN101125807A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,767, and CN101857576 A. However, said methods require using dangerous and/or highly toxic chemicals, and, in some cases, would be difficult for industrialization because of hardly controlled reaction process, high production cost and the like.